


The Blackwatch Gym

by Torink



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Gabe is a city slicker, Jack is a country boy, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Slight dealings with anxiety, Strangers to Lovers, Work In Progress, also Gabe runs a gym, imagine Gabe is from chicago okay, more tags to be added along the way, takes place in chicago
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 07:18:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12383487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torink/pseuds/Torink
Summary: Jack moves away to get out of his predictable and problematic life in northern Indiana, but makes the mistake of plunging himself headlong into the bustling scene of Chicago. He's not so sure he's made the right decision, at least until he meets a certain gym owner.Then life gets interesting.





	The Blackwatch Gym

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first ongoing fic! Feel free to leave comments down below, I'd love to hear tips and ways to improve.

What was he doing?

This was the question that kept making its way through Jack's mind. That, and how there were so many people in the small space around him. He kept trying to stay out of the way, and muttered endless apologies under his breath whenever he was blocking someone. But no matter what he did, he felt shoulders connecting with his, and the crowd made him feel as if he wasn't in control of where he was going.

Well, he didn't exactly know where he was going to begin with. That was his first problem.

This was due to the fact that Jack wasn't happy about the situation he was in when he was home. He hadn't been happy for some time, now that he thinks about it. Around a year ago, he had graduated from high school with high honors and almost at the top of his class, only to begin to work full time at the family farm. This of course, was not his choice. Jack had wanted to go to college, to graduate and start his own business, but his family didn't have the money. At his first mention of college all those months ago, his father had practically blown up in his face, scolding him about how uncertain the business world was, and how he had brought Jack up not to just leave, but to inherit the family farm and keep the tradition alive. He had said that Jack would come to his senses, and forget all about his adolescent dreams of running a business. His father believed that Jack would come to realize his real dream and purpose, to have a family to raise on the Morrison farm, so that the name continues on.

That was the other problem. Jack had been in a relationship with the head cheerleader of his high school for two years when he graduated, and everyone was expecting a special promise to be made in the following months. Instead, everyone had heard the story about how Jack did _something_ to piss poor little Julie off (it's rumored he refused to be more intimate with her, but no one knows for sure). Everyone saw the fire in the Morrison's front yard, so there was no real reason to not believe the stories.

But Jack knew they didn't know the full story. Hell, he didn't even think he understood it completely. He was the quarterback, she was the cheer leader. It was supposed to happen. Then why did Jack feel so... wrong?

Not only wrong in that relationship, but how his life was going. The path he was being pushed down didn't seem like the right one for him, and he didn't like it. He knew unless he got away, that it would never stop. So, that's why he's here, lost in a big city he's seen once, five years ago on a school trip. 

He's pulled out of his head with a jolt as someone pushes past him, almost knocking him into the street. Jack looks around and can't believe no one is staring at him, he feels so out of place in the messy and busy streets.

He sits on an empty bench, catching his breath and attempting to slow his heart rate. He knew going into this that it would be a big change, but this was... more than he expected. Granted, he wasn't really sure what he was expecting. However, it definitely wasn't panic attacks.

As he calms himself, Jack finds that he's almost homesick on that damp, old bench. There's a small group of pigeons in front of him, and he can't help but feel like they are the city equivalent of the chickens back on the farm. They're mostly a grimy gray, like the streets or most of the gutters that he's seen. Jack, however, finds the way their necks glitter in the occasional beam of light hypnotic. They walk and strut just like chickens, but their coos are much more calming than the clucking and screeching that his chickens are so prone to do. The cycler that passes in between them scares Jack more than the dirty fowl he's watching, and it amuses him how the small creatures seem so accustomed to the unpredictable life around them.

"You're not from here." Jack jumps at the voice, and chides himself for not being more aware. Before looking towards the voice, he checks his pockets nervously, rubbing his hands against his phone and wallet to convince himself that they are still there. A strange woman was sitting next to him when he looked over, a light blue hijab covering her dark hair. She's of arabic origin, and her features are soft, which he finds contrasting to the hard city framing her. The most notable trait on the woman was the black eye of Horace underneath her eye. He moves his own eyes to look into her dark brown ones, which he finds are searching his face, as he was just searching hers.

"How can you tell?"

"People from here aren't mystified by the pigeons, my friend." She offers a small smile and glances at the birds, and Jack can't help but to relax. She seems nice enough, and he's got no one else to talk to. No harm done in a little conversation, right?

"Fair enough," he says with a slight smile, running his hands through his hair. He feels dirtier, but he's sure it's just the feeling of the city around him. "I have to ask though, why even stop to talk to me? No one else seems to care."

She studies him slightly before looking around at the people passing. "You see, I'm not even entirely sure." She smiles softly, continuing, "You seemed like a lost soul, and something pushed me to help you." She looks at him again and tilts her head slightly, the hijab bunching a little at the sides. "You don't mind, I assume?"

Jack chuckles nervously and looks at his feet. "Well... no, I don't. You see," he chews his bottom lip before saying, "I actually don't have anywhere to go. Kind of did this trip on a whim, and I don't plan on going back. I have a few hundred in cash and a card, but no idea where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated." He doesn't look up, not knowing what to expect.

She laughs and puts a warm hand on his back. "Well, my friend, you are lucky that the gods sent me to you. I know a place, a gym, that you can stay at. I am close with the owner, and he can't refuse me." Jack looks up to her face, and he feels the surprise painted on his expression. She just smiles at him and shrugs, looking down as she pulls her phone out of her pocket. "Ah, look at the time. I have to be going, my break from work is almost over." As she stands up, Jack stumbles to follow her, thank you's spilling from his mouth. "Honest, it is no problem. Just find the Blackwatch gym about two blocks down. Tell the owner that Ana sent you, and don't be scared. He looks frightening, but he doesn't bite. Good luck, friend!" Ana, presumably, winks and waves as she slips into the flow of people.

Jack stands there for a second, heart rate increasing again as he looses sight of the bright blue hijab. He tells himself to calm down, but he can't stop the anxiety from rising in his chest. Ana was nicer than anyone else had been, and he'll be eternally in her debt, but she was the first person in this city that made him feel welcome. He was now surrounded by strangers, and the smell of gas and old food, again. He takes a shaky breath and turns around, remembering where Ana had told him to go. He wasn't a lost child, even if he felt like one. He could do this.

He was walking again, but this time it seemed more difficult, almost as if people were trying to run into him. He walks one block, and nearly gets run over as a taxi ignores the pedestrians crossing the street. Jack is struggling to study the buildings that he passes, scared he already missed it, until he sees it. A small black sign with an odd symbol, like a sword on an owl's skull in a red circle. Small white print underneath it reads 'Blackwatch Gym', and Jack stops to observe the outside of the building before entering.

From the outside, it looks like a small apartment building. It's at most four stories high, and not very wide, maybe twenty feet at the most. It's made out of an old tan brick, and there are water marks and gum staining the front. The windows, however, are clean, and light shine through the first and second floors, illuminating his face softly. Jack takes a breath approaches the black framed door.

The inside is clean and modern, a contrast to the outside of the building. There's an obvious color scheme of white, red, and black; the small chairs lining the wall are a deep red, the floors are a polished black, along with the help desk, which sat in the middle of the small room in front of a brightly lit hallway. The walls were white, but were lined with pictures. Jack approached the walls with curiosity. He would think that the pictures hanging on a gym wall would be of promotional advertisements for said gym, but all he saw where what one would assume as family photos. Some look like vacation photos, with three men on a beach with arms around each other. There are a few other pictures taken at what Jack assumes to be a cafe, and he recognizes Ana next to one of the men from the beach photos. He looks happy, and Jack can't help but to think that the emotion suits the well groomed man. Jack looks around the room again, noticing a clock with the logo he saw outside behind the desk.

He feels quite cold all of a sudden, anxiety climbing into his chest again. He hadn't realized it was so late, and he's usually more on top of things than this. He guesses that he shouldn't blame himself, especially since he left in a rush at ten that morning to get on a train to the city, but he did. His phone was only half charged at that time, and now it was completely dead.

The sound of a throat clearing makes Jack jump. He hadn't noticed the man walk in through the hallway, and he tries to straighten himself a bit, not wanting to make a bad first impression.

He tells himself that it's just anxiety that makes his heart rate quicken as he feels himself being looked over by the man in front of him. He's almost as tall as Jack is, and has evenly tanned skin and short, black curly hair. His eyes are brown and guarded, but there is no doubt that he is the man from the pictures on the wall. He snorts at Jack and walks to the desk, shuffling a few papers before looking up at him again. "We're about to close, is there anything I can help you with?"

Jack shifts a little on his feet and nervously runs a hand through his hair. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't intimidated. "Yeah, uh, I was wondering if you had a room to spare?"

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, don't be afraid to leave kudos or a comment. See you in the next chapter!


End file.
